Breedon Church

5-26-13. Another beautiful morning this Lord’s Day is. Today is the Memorial Sunday and we wil have a special service at 2:00 p.m. at the Stillings Cemetery to honor our loved ones that have already gone home. We all need to remember our fallen veterans and thank God for their brave sacrifices that we may remain free today. Also, when you see a veteran out and about whether they are active or not, give them a meaningful thank you and show your appreciation. Their service has been given that America can stay safe and in my opinion, we as a nation do very little to show our gratitude. As individuals surely we can at least say thank you.

Sunday school opened with prayer given by Sister Clara Lafferty. Our lesson for Sunday school comes from II Corinthians the 11th chapter. After the reading of the 120th chapter of Psalms. In our lesson we re-read the 10th chapter and go into reading and discussing the 11th chapter. Paul is continuing to speak to the Corinthians of the humble giving of much when the churches of Macedonia had so little yet the Corinthians had so much. He asks them to bear with him through his boldness so he could bring them to understand he is working for Christ to keep them from being deceived by the false prophets in this city. And because he did not want to give these false teachers an occasion to accuse him of just taking their money, he made tents by his own hand as well as used offerings given by other churches to preach the gospel to them in spite of their selfishness. Paul reminds them of the perils that he endured to continue preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. He spoke in verses 23-28: ” Five times of the Jews, he received 40 stripes, save one so 39 times 5 equals a total of 95 stripes. Three times he was beaten with rods, once he was stoned, three times he was ship wrecked and spent a night and a day in the deep. He speaks of being robbed during his journeying as he preached. Whether on land or sea, he suffered from robbers, how his own country men, by heathens and the dangers that occur in the wilderness, cities, land and sea. In Damascus the governor under Aretas the king had ordered a garrison of soldiers to catch him and he escaped through a window in a basement by his co-workers of the gospel letting him down” Paul endured these things and continued to preach the gospel because he loved Jesus and sought to carry this gospel to those lost in sin.

Today’s sermon is taken from St. Luke, chapter 22 for today we will partake of communion and a foot washing service before leaving for the cemetery. This chapter goes into describing the last supper Jesus took with his disciples and we are instructed to take the bread in rememberance of his body and the cup in remembrance of His blood. This is a good time to especially search our hearts and bring more repentance for our sinful ways. I have known of several who wouldn’t take it because of I Corinthians the 11th chapter the 27th verse, “Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthy shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.” We are all unworthy. When I research some of the commentaries in Bibles, Paul is correcting the Corinthians because some of them wer taking this special remembrance of our Lord and using it for their own purpose. Some were making a show and some just wanted a reason for a feast and celebration. This is something that would bring domination to a soul. If you didn’t know the Lord and accepted His saving power – why would you want to use His precious remembrance of body and blood for a celebration you knew nothing about? Yes, I am unworthy of His body, His blood, His saving grace, but praise God I can freely accept Him as my Savior and I will use this communion to search even deeper and seek his amazing forgiveness. I will remember his supreme sacrifice and praise Him for giving His body and blood that I may have a way back to an almighty all sovereign God that one day will open the book of life. If I don’t know Jesus how can he plead His blood for me if He doesn’t know me? How can a lawyer help during a trial if he doesn’t know the person he is to defend or at least be acquainted? This reminds me of a song, “Consider The Lilies.” There is a verse that states, “May I introduce you to this friend of mine, who hangs out the stars and tells the sun when to shine, and He kisses the flowers each morning with dew, but He’s not too busy to care about you.” Please seek Him while He is near and you will have a defense lawyer on the great judgment day. This is not the only reason you should do it. There is nothing that is yours. The land, your home even your own body. It is God’s. He created us for a purpose to bring honor and praise to Him for eternity. While in this life, you may be cursed or you may be blessed. It lays in your hands. What will you do with Jesus? Are you going to accept Him or live a careless life only to pillow your soul for eternity in Hell where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth?” Endless pain, sorrow and separation from loved ones and almighty God will be your eternal home. Heaven is real friend and so is hell. I pray that if you are reading this the Holy Spirit will touch your heart and you will accept Jesus and ask for forgiveness. The Bible said, ” He could raise up rocks to give Him praise.” He really doesn’t need you to praise Him. The rocks, mountains and all other components of His creation can do it at His divine will. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather get a blessing from God than a rock getting it. He won’t turn you away. Just call upon him as you are. He is true to His word.

God bless you all and thank you veterans and your families for the service you have given.